Retro City Rampage sells best on Vita, worst on XBLA

Update: Penny Arcade Adventures Episodes 3 and 4 developer Robert Boyd of Zeboyd, clarified to Eurogamer that while he is in fact interested in developing for Vita, it's unlikely that his Penny Arcade games will make the cut as the third episode has been out for awhile and the fourth will be out shortly, making it too late to port in time for launch.

"We're investigating Vita development at this time. I don't think Precipice of Darkness 3 & 4 will be coming to the Vita since 3 has already been out for a while and 4 is about to come out (far too late to start a port now without causing major delays)," Boyd explained. "But I think there's a good chance that our next game, CSH, will be PC/Vita at launch (and maybe other platforms as well)."

"We're big fans of the Vita (three of my top 10 games of 2012 were on the Vita (Persona 4 Golden, Gravity Rush, and DJ Max Technika Tune) so we'd like to try to support it if we can figure out the logistics."

Original story: Retro City Rampage sold more copies on the Vita than it did on PS3, Steam, or XBLA.

Developer Brian Provinciano revealed this interesting factoid on Twitter, where he said, "Indies should definitely jump onto the PS Vita. RCR's sold much more on PSN than XBLA and more on PS Vita than even PS3."

He later clarified that "Vita in itself, not counting PS3 has sold better than XBLA."

One might initially think this PSN surge was due to the game being a free offering on PlayStation Plus, but Provinciano noted "This doesn't include PS Plus. It's _SOLD_ far more on PSN than XBLA. With PS Plus, there are a bajillion more copies out there."

An inquisitive Robert Boyd, developer of the upcoming PC and XBLIG exclusive Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 4, asked how Steam compared to Vita. Provinciano replied, "Steam's done far better than XBLA too, but PSN has still done the best."

"Looks like we need to get our RPGs on Vita then," Boyd replied. We've followed up with him to see how serious he is about this and we'll let you know if we get confirmation. In the meantime, it just sounds like he's expressing interest.

Provinciano then slagged off Microsoft saying developing for XBLA was the biggest headache for the smallest reward. "Two bouts of six plus months of pitching, paperwork, negotiation just to get onto XBLA. It's absurd. They don't make it easy," he lamented. "It cost more to do the XBLA version than all other SKUs combined. Made more on all other platforms." He then called XBLA "a learning experience."

He spoke much more highly of the other two major console manufacturers. "Nintendo's great to work with. Both Sony and Nintendo are welcoming to indies."

When asked how he felt the Vita compared to iOS, Provinciano replied, "The risk is higher on iOS, odds are better of succeeding on consoles. Even with a good game, you're rolling the dice on iOS."

Provinciano later added, "I'll definitely be doing another Vita game!"

While Vita hasn't caught on with triple A titles, it has quite a few notable indies migrating to the platform. Hotline Miami, The Binding of Isaac demake, and Thomas Was Alone are all heading there.

In other Retro City Rampage related news, the pixelated open-world adventure just came out on WiiWare today for 1000 Wii Points (about £7/€10).